Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Syrian Arab Republic (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 2 of the Convention. Daily and weekly limits on hours of work. The Committee notes the promulgation of the new Labour Code No. 17 of 2010. It notes that section 106(a) of the new Labour Code provides that a worker shall not work more than eight hours per day or 48 hours per week. In this regard, the Committee wishes to recall that Article 2 of the Convention sets a double limit – daily and weekly – to the working hours. This limit is cumulative and not alternative as it appears under section 106(a) of the new Labour Code. The daily and weekly limits should therefore be eight hours per day and 48 hours per week, and not eight hours per day or 48 hours per week. Moreover, it notes that section 106(b) of the Labour Code provides that hours of work and rest breaks should be scheduled in such a way that a worker does not spend more than ten hours per day at the workplace. In this respect, the Committee wishes to point out that Article 2(b) of the Convention permits the daily limit of eight hours to be exceeded by no more than one hour only in the case where the hours of work on one or more days of the week are less than eight hours. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the national legislation into full conformity with Article 2 and 2(b) of the Convention.

Article 6. Permanent and temporary exceptions. In its previous comment, the Committee had requested the Government to provide information on any development in relation to the process of amending Order No. 243 of 8 May 1966, Order No. 135 of 13 February 1981, and Order No. 720 of 1973, as amended by Order No. 775 of 1974, issued under Labour Code No. 91 of 1959. In its reply the Government indicates that all the above-mentioned orders were repealed with the promulgation of the new Labour Code No. 17 of 2010. It also refers to Order No. 9 of 2010, which determines the categories of workers, industries and tasks in which hours of work may be increased or decreased, and Order No. 7 of 2010, which determines the cases or tasks which require working without a rest period on technical or operational grounds. The Committee requests the Government to specify the scope of application of paragraph a(2) of section 112 of the Labour Code No. 17/2010 which provides that workers carrying out preparatory or complementary work that has to be done before or after working hours are not covered under Chapter 1 of Title VII of the Labour Code, and to indicate how it is implemented in practice.